Top Cryptocurrencies:

Neutral Bitcoin Cash Payment API Gateway.cash Adds a Variety of New Features

Last October, news.Bitcoin.com reported on a new Bitcoin Cash (BCH) payment processor called Gateway.cash. Since then the Gateway developers have added a variety of features to the BCH platform like instant web-sockets, custom audio, and client-side callbacks for real-time applications. Also read: How to Spend and Give Bitcoin Cash Over the Holidays After the BCH Split […]Bitcoin News.

A ‘Black Swan’ art piece by Cryptograffiti has auctioned to the lowest bidder for a milli-satoshi or just $0.000000037 thanks to the Bitcoin Lightning Network, making the winning likely the world’s cheapest auction. The ‘Black Swan’ A Reddit user going by the name Cryptograffiti shared his story of creating and auctioning a tiny piece of art called ''Black Swan.” The piece is exactly what you would expect it to be – a black swan sitting next to what seemsRead MoreThe post Lightning Network Milestone: ‘Micro-Auction’ Art Piece Sells for $0.000000037 appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

Neutral Despite Slump in Crypto Prices, Bitcoin ATMs More Than Doubled in 2018

Despite the market downturn in digital asset values, cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs) are still in vogue. According to a tweet from cryptocurrency analytics firm DataLight, the number of crypto ATMs doubled in 2018 from 2,025 ATMs in 2017 to 4,051 ATMs, signaling an increase in the adoption of cryptocurrencies in general, despite the slump in price.November will go down as a month investors won’t forget in a hurry, as bitcoin, along with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, experienced a massive slump in prices. Bitcoin, the dominant cryptocurrency, fell to $3,750 in November, as the market witnessed massive selloffs that would have bitcoin touch nearly $3,000 in December.Data from Coin ATM Radar shows that while 68 bitcoin ATMs were closed in November, 209 new machines were also installed by operators all across the world. Bitcoin of America led the way, introducing 16 new ATMs, followed closely by CoinFlip Bitcoin ATMs and Localcoin, who installed 10 and 7 new ATMs, respectively.While the U.S. remains the dominant country with 70 new installations, Peru, Albania and South Korea had their first bitcoin ATMs installed in November, the data from Coin ATM Radar revealed. Bitcoin ATMs have also been a target of criminals. Security researchers at Trend Micro discovered malware that targets a service vulnerability in bitcoin ATMs, selling for $25,000, in an underground forum. A senior resear...

Neutral Sold! Lightning Network Art Auction Goes to the Lowest Bidder

Yesterday, an auction was held by cryptocurrency and blockchain artist @cryptograffiti for a piece titled “black swan,” which the artist made using “fiat and counterfeit detector pen ink.” The artist, who became involved with bitcoin in 2013, held the auction on a website where users could only bid via Lightning Network micropayments, with the first person to bid the smallest amount being the winner. black swan is here! watch the vid to try and catch him...#cryptoart #bitcoinart pic.twitter.com/7BfcDeyNJ3— cryptograffiti (@cryptograffiti) December 19, 2018Cryptograffiti and Bitcoin Magazine would will to take this opportunity to announce the winner of the auction. Congratulations Twitter user @BTC_Spot!The winning price was the first of several 1 millisatoshi bids (one hundred billionth of one bitcoin). At the time of writing, the US-dollar denominated value of the bid is approximately $0.000000037.The auction marks a significant event for Lightning’s use among the Bitcoin community. It even served as a learning lesson for those who participated.“Many others were unaware that sub-satoshi payments were possible via LN,” the artist told Bitcoin Magazine. Fully concluded, the auction attracted 77 bids to the tune of 182,252 satoshis (0.00182252 BTC). Cryptograffiti pointed out that 14 bidders connected to his Lightning node the day before the auction after he sent out a tweet hinting at the event...

Neutral Bankers Raise Concerns Over Robinhood’s New Saving Accounts

Robinhood launched its 3% interest “checking and savings” accounts last week. With 3% well over the average rate offered by conventional banks and some key differentials in the insurance that protects investors in Robinhood’s new products, U.S banking organizations are speaking out. The new accounts from the trading platform, at first glance, appear to beCCN

In today’s chatter report, Calvin Ayre eagerly welcomes Jiang Zhuoer to mine on BSV but then quickly changes his mind. Zhuoer reveals that btc.top created a BSV block by accident and Rick Falkvinge calls for code changes to be reviewed in the same manner as legislation. Also Read: Linkedin Names ‘Blockchain Developer’ Top Emerging US […]Bitcoin News.

Neutral Peter McCormack Tells How He Turned $32K Into $1.2M and ‘Back to Pretty Much Zero’

In an informative, entertaining, comical, and bitterly poignant tweet yesterday, What Bitcoin Did podcast host Peter McCormack explains how he amassed–and lost–his crypto fortune over the last two years. From $32K to Millionaire and Back He starts the Twitter post saying: So here is a thread on how I turned $32,000 into $1.2m and back to pretty much zero (once taxes are paid). Just note, I am not bitter or salty in any way at all, theRead MoreThe post Peter McCormack Tells How He Turned $32K Into $1.2M and ‘Back to Pretty Much Zero’ appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

Neutral Op Ed: Bitcoin Is a Declaration of Our Monetary Independence

Nick Spanos is an early adopter and innovator in the blockchain space. He is best known for launching Bitcoin Center NYC, the world’s first live cryptocurrency exchange, in 2013, right next to the New York Stock Exchange — as immortalized in the Netflix documentary “Banking on Bitcoin.” As part of Bitcoin Magazine’s series of interviews and op eds leading up to the 10th Anniversary of Bitcoin, Nick shares his thoughts an early Bitcoin adopter.Before Bitcoin, I worked tirelessly for liberty-minded political candidates for many years. These candidates, the most prominent of whom was Dr. Ron Paul, spoke out against the Federal Reserve Bank because of its role in inflating the money supply which devalued the life savings of hard-working people. In almost every case, the mass media would sharply (and often unfairly) attack the image of the candidate with half-truths and misinformation, decimating our poll numbers, until they were sure that we would be defeated on Election Day. No matter how hard we worked or how much money we raised, we were no match for what I call the political bosses of today, the mainstream media.After two decades of struggle, I thought I had wasted my life fighting unwinnable battles. Then one day, I read the Bitcoin white paper. I read it half a dozen times and I thought, “Finally, I have a weapon that cannot be destroyed on Election Day.”Bitcoin for me is not an instrument for financi...

Neutral Ethereum Remains One of the Most Popular Blockchain Networks

The Ethereum Network remains one of the most popular blockchains for new cryptocurrencies and crypto-based apps thanks, in part, to its smart contracts capabilities, and new data for 2018 suggests a network wrought with projects and growing trust amongst industry colleagues. Ethereum Is a Loved Asset Ethereum was a long-time holder of the number two...Live Bitcoin News.

The holiday season is here. And even if crypto prices are on the coal heap, you can still have fun spreading some holiday bitcoin cheer.For the bitcoiners in your life, this could mean a crypto-related gift as a token of solidarity. After all, what better way to commiserate with fellow HODLers than decking their holiday halls with bitcoin-themed gifts? What better way to say “we’re in it for the long haul” than with a hardware wallet? Or “I’ve got your back — literally” than with a bitcoin t-shirt?From wallets to node-hosting hardware to general swag, here’s a list of some of our favorite gifts for bitcoiners of all kinds — from newbies to early adopters, moon shooters to techies, and everyone in between.Give BitcoinOf course, one of the best gifts you can give is bitcoin itself. Maybe take some time and walk a friend through the process of setting up a wallet and then send them their first satoshis.If you want to wrap up a bitcoin gift, consider putting some funds on an Opendime stick. Opendime is a single-use, disposable bitcoin hardware wallet. This USB wallet functions sort of like a gift card that you can load with bitcoin using your existing wallet — then you pass it on to someone else. The private keys are generated in the wallet itself and are never revealed to anyone, not even to the person who loads the wallet with funds. Using the public key, the recipient of the Opendime can still read how m...

Neutral BitGo Hires Trust Company Veteran as CEO of Its Custody Arm

BitGo has a new CEO for its custody business.The cryptocurrency solution provider has recruited Richard Corcoran as its new chief executive officer. Having retired some years back after over 30 years in the traditional banking and finance industry, Corcoran has come out of retirement to lead the BitGo Trust Company, BitGo's crypto custody arm.BitGo received approval from the South Dakota Division of Banking in September 2018, empowering it to act as a qualified custodian of digital assets for its institutional investors. At the time it was launched, BitGo Chief Compliance Officer Shahla Ali said that BitGo's custody would deliver “modern security for modern assets.” BitGo CEO Mike Belshe highlighted the influence Corcoran would have on the firm, noting in the press release that he possesses a “deep understanding of the opportunities and value creation that BitGo offers to its institutional customers.”Corcoran, who brings over 30 years of wealth management experience to BitGo, will be based in South Dakota, a state he knows well, having attended undergrad in South Dakota and spent most of his professional career working in the state. As a trained attorney, Corcoran cut his teeth with business law firm Woods, Fuller, Shultz & Smith, where he spent 10 years, before switching to the First National Bank as executive VP of Wealth Management, both roles were in South Dakota. As VP, Corcoran led a team res...

Neutral Trading Platform Paxful Completes Construction for Second School in Rwanda

Children in the Rwandan village of Kasebigege are being given a greater chance to pursue a sound education as construction on a new school, developed by bitcoin marketplace Paxful, has been completed.Located in the Bugesera District, the school is a primary institution designed for children between the ages of 6 and 15. It's Paxful's second Philanthropic endeavor in the village, and construction was finished roughly one year after the company built a nursery education center in December 2017. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Ray Youssef — CEO and co-founder of Paxful — says it has always been one of his dreams to build schools for underprivileged children. “You will see more of this, especially schools where they’re most needed like in Africa and in rural villages where people don’t have access to education or clean water,” he explains. “We want to build 100 schools in Africa fully funded by cryptocurrency. This is just the beginning and we’ve only built two out of the 100.” The school is in the heart of the village where Rwanda’s infamous genocide began roughly 20 years ago. Youssef says that the area glows with an aura of healing and forgiveness and thus seemed like the natural place to begin rebuilding the country. “We believe that education is key to sustaining a community, but that’s not the way you start,” he comments. “When you go to a place with absolutely no infrastructure, you must start...

The state of Wyoming has passed a blockchain bill that allows banks to provide banking services to blockchain companies in the state. According to the legislative document, the new bill would create a new banking category called the Special Purpose Depository Bank, a group of financial institutions in the state that provide banking services to blockchain-based businesses.The bill was passed unanimously by the state's legislative committee 13-1, and it seeks to remedy the banking problems faced by blockchain businesses in the state. "The rapid innovation of blockchain technology, including the growing use of virtual currency and digital assets, has resulted in many blockchain innovators being unable to access secure and reliable banking services, hampering the development of blockchain services and products in the marketplace," the document states.Traditional banks have not been friendly to blockchain companies in the "Equality State," depriving them of secure and reliable banking services to the sector due to the strict banking regulations governing the state. "Authorizing special purpose depository banks to be chartered in Wyoming will provide a necessary and valuable service to blockchain innovators, emphasize Wyoming’s partnership with the technology and financial industry and safely grow this state’s developing financial sector," the document reads.The banks under this category are expected to maint...

Recently, the CEO of Ohio-based nonprofit JumpStart Inc. announced that his company, along with six others, would invest vast sums of money into Ohio’s blockchain startups.As covered in Cleveland-based news organizations, JumpStart Inc.’s CEO Ray Leach initially announced this donation. Collectively, the seven different funds, which are all based in Ohio, are commitmed “to invest $100 million in early-stage startups that focus on using blockchain technology for business or government.” Leach claims that, further down the line, the funds will establish “additional investment teams [that] plan to make $200 million available for blockchain companies that take advantage of Ohio’s ‘Opportunity Zones.’” These zones apparently give tax incentives to spur economic development in poorer neighborhoods, which has so far shown inconclusive evidence nationwide that the practice will aid public services and, instead, will accelerate gentrification. Still, from this news, Ohio is quickly turning into a real safe haven for blockchain and cryptocurrency startups. A week before this announcement, Ohio’s State Treasurer Josh Mandel also declared that businesses could pay taxes using cryptocurrency. This pilot program was the only crypto tax scheme he could set up without consulting the legislature or governor’s office. Combining this new system of tax payments with institutionalized tax breaks may lure many companies into...

The Bitcoin forum of social media platform Reddit is celebrating a milestone of its own December 2 after gaining its one-millionth subscriber. u/CryptoBull007 Clinches Coveted Title While there remains little cause for celebration among the Bitcoin community in the ongoing 2018 bear market, growth in one sector of its economy is undeniable: the r/Bitcoin subreddit. Confirming the landmark membership, moderator known as BashCo awarded a prize to the millionth person to subscribe to the subreddit.Read MoreBitcoinist.com.

Neutral What Is Cryptocurrency? “Jeopardy!” Features Entire Category on Crypto

Is cryptocurrency becoming more mainstream? It could be if one of America’s most prominent game shows features an entire category devoted to it.The November 29, 2018, episode of “Jeopardy!” — which has been on the air since 1964 — offered five unique questions centered around cryptocurrencies and their technology to test out its contestants’ knowledge on the subject: The results reveal that they did indeed know their fair share.The “cryptocurrencies” category occurred in the game’s first round, with answers worth $200, $400, $600, $800 and $1,000 depending on their order and level of difficulty. The category was also among the final two to be tackled by the players, suggesting they may have felt a little less confident heading into it. The first clue, selected by Phil Tompkins, a portable restroom service technician from Indiana, was a rather basic one: “An altcoin is any unit of cryptocurrency other than this original one.” Chris Williams, a consultant from New York, responded with the correct answer: “bitcoin.” The contestants then moved to an entirely new category before Adriana Ciccone, a data scientist from San Francisco, jumped back to “cryptocurrencies” with less than a minute to go in the round. In true cryptocurrency fashion, the stakes suddenly got higher when the selected clue turned out to be a “daily double” — meaning she was able to risk any or all of her accumulated winnings on the result...

Neutral Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Receives Honorary Doctorate

Vitalik Buterin left academia four years ago to pursue a career in crypto. Now, the Ethereum founder’s contributions to the industry (and the computer science field at large) have earned him an honorary Ph.D. — in the same year he might have eventually completed his undergrad degree.In 2014, disenchanted with academics, Buterin accepted a Thiel Fellowship for his preliminary work on Ethereum and dropped out in his freshman year at the University of Waterloo to work on the smart contract platform.Today, the University of Basel's Faculty of Business and Economics has awarded him an honorary doctorate. The distinction was given at the Dies Academicus celebration, an annual event that commemorates the opening of the university.Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Basel, Prof. Dr. Aleksander Berentsen calls Buterin's blockchain innovations "game-changing," adding that he has "blazed a trail for science and industry to follow and work together.""I’m honored to have received an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel the oldest university in Switzerland. Switzerland is well known for its innovative blockchain research,” Buterin stated.Buterin first introduced his concept for the groundbreaking Ethereum in a white paper titled "A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform" in 2013, wherein he proposed the development of a new platform with a more flexib...

Neutral Ethereum 1x Upgrade: All you need to know

Published on CoinnounceA large number of researchers and developers have started to discuss the proposed upgrade to Ethereum known as Ethereum 1x. The code changes are still not confirmed but developers from all around the world are suggesting their different proposals in order to improve the usability of Ethereum- the world’s third-largest blockchain. The code is predicted […]Coinnounce.

Neutral Report: Crypto Exchanges Are Recording Impressive Revenues

Cryptocurrency exchanges are catching up to their traditional counterparts, a new study suggests.According to a report released by global professional services company Accenture, revenue from cryptocurrency exchanges is now matching that of traditional exchanges. Some of the changes discussed in the document, “Capital Markets Vision 2022,” include the rise and growth of cryptocurrencies, and how blockchain technology could potentially help traditional firms unlock value and add new levels of efficiency to their operations. Traditional exchanges typically generate solid pre-tax margins, but their growth prospects tend to be modest at best, the document explains. Thus, many traditional firms have begun finding ways to bring cryptocurrency trading to their customers as a means of potentially increasing their revenue while offering investors the chance to build more diversified portfolios. The report says that cryptocurrency exchanges and servicing hold a 64 percent pre-tax margin. The authors say that, in just a few short years, crypto exchanges have “exploded from virtually nowhere” and now represent a substantial amount of revenue, matching that from traditional exchanges with a discrepancy in composition of margin and turnover that differs by a factor of roughly 1,000. Markus Boehme — co-author of the report and managing director at Accenture Strategy — explains, “Adapting a trillion-dollar industry for...

In today’s edition of Chatter Report, crypto influencers debate the importance of buy walls to support crypto prices, reason for and against miner anonymity and ponder the outcome of governments attacking bitcoin. Also read: Markets Update: Bull Trap or Reversal? Traders Question the Recent Crypto Spike Hodlers of Last Resort and Buy Walls Early bitcoin […]Bitcoin News.

Neutral Outrage Over Union Bank of Nigeria’s Threat to Close Crypto-Related Accounts

Nigerian digital asset owners have reacted angrily to Union Bank’s threat to close all cryptocurrency-linked accounts. Investors have accused the local banking system of hypocrisy, asserting that banks are ''unfit” and ''scammers” that continue to steal from the poor through spurious charges such as ATM maintenance fees and SMS alerts. Also read: Nigeria’s Union Bank Threatens […]Bitcoin News.

Neutral Amidst Dwindling Prices, Steemit Lays Off 70% of Workforce

Blockchain-based social media platform Steemit Inc., the company behind popular open source website Steemit.com, has announced a structural reorganization which will entail laying off 70 percent of its workforce as it looks for new ways to cut costs and remain sustainable as a business.In a heartfelt post published by Steemit's co-founder and CEO Ned Scott, the rest of the team will stay on to work on reducing the cost of running the Steemit platform and the company's public APIs.Scott attributed the decision to lay off the overwhelming majority of Steemit’s workforce to "the weakness of the cryptocurrency market, the fiat returns on our automated selling of STEEM diminishing, and the growing costs of running full Steem nodes.""We have conducted our first all-hands meeting and are prioritizing all the cost reduction solutions we can accomplish in the near term, including replacing steemd plugins with hivemind, pitchforking Steem to prune the chain state size from 160gb to 0gb, AWS usage projections, DevOps solutions, reduction of Staging and Testing nodes, and eliminating redundancies," Scott continues in the post.Steem is Steemit's native token, which was created in 2016 as a micropayment currency for tipping authors on the Steemit platform. The Steemit platform was created to be a decentralized version of Reddit, where contributors could be rewarded with steem for their posts. Other decentralized plat...

Just in time for the holidays, a U.K. startup is launching a line of crypto-themed toysConcerned about the absence of provenance and authenticity for designer toys, CryptoKaiju has launched a set of uniquely collectible toys that are traceable on the blockchain. Its flagship first figure, designed to illustrate a monster with a Bitcoin theme, is dubbed “Genesis,” a nod to the first block in a blockchain. The monster is on sale now for $55 plus shipping.For each Genesis toy purchased, the buyer will get a unique token that sits within a smart contract. The token will detail the toy's metadata, including birth date, color, gender, a brief description and personality traits — which is where the scarcity comes in, creating a varying demand for the toys, as no single toy will ever be alike.CryptoKaiju will also be floating a subscription service that will launch a week after the toys ship out to customers. The subscription service will reward subscribers with a unique Kaiju every month, along with a corresponding ERC-721 token. Users have the option to subscribe for a 6-or 12-month period.CryptoKaiju was founded by Coin Journal's Oliver Carding along with David Moore, James Morgan and Andy Gray, the three co-founders of digital art marketplace Known Origin. In an email correspondence with Bitcoin Magazine, Carding said the founders were inspired by the authenticity issues they had experienced in the past col...

Neutral Mexican Startup Wants to Support Venezuelans With $1 Million Crypto Airdrop

Mexican startup Airtm will launch a campaign to raise donations for Venezuelans, a country whose poor monetary policies have plagued it with hyperinflation.Called the AirdropVenezuela.org, the campaign seeks to raise $1 million in cryptocurrency donations for residents of Venezuela. Once completed, the startup will airdrop the donations to over 100,000 verified Venezuelans who use the AirTM platform. AirTM, founded in 2015, is a registered money service business (MSB) under the U.S. Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) which mandates MSBs to be compliant with anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations.Over 200,000 individual and businesses use Airtm to "access remittance, payments, and donations at a free market rate, and to preserve wealth against the rapid devaluation of the Venezuelan bolivar."Airtm will be working with Zcash Company, the issuer of privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash, along with Venezuelan educators and journalists. Earlier this year, Airtm integrated Zcash as an alternative step when converting bolivars to dollars:“We believe that cryptocurrencies such as Zcash are beneficial for hedging against hyperinflation, day-to-day transactions, and remittances from families abroad. We are proud to support Airtm in this effort to educate and empower Venezuelans," Zooko Wilcox, Zcash Company CEO, stated.AirTM CEO, Ruben Galindo, told Bitc...

Neutral Content Creators Can Earn BCH Using the Honest Cash Platform

Adrian Barwicki, the creator of the Panda Suite software development kit for Bitcoin Cash (BCH), revealed on Nov. 18 that he has been working on a ''Medium-like” social media platform built around the BCH network. On Nov. 22, Barwicki announced the activation of his project, Honest Cash, which allows 100 accounts the ability to experiment […]Bitcoin News.

Neutral Here’s How You Can Get Amazon to Kick Some Cash to a Bitcoin Charity

Are you planning to do some shopping on Amazon this holiday season? If so, you can also support BitGive, the first registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that uses the power of bitcoin to support some great philanthropic projects around the world.This year, BitGive is celebrating its fifth anniversary of charitable work in the Bitcoin space. And while shoppers can support its philanthropic efforts year round through the AmazonSmile program, now is the time of year when you might be spending a bit more time (and money) on the Amazon website. AmazonSmile is a subdomain on Amazon that allows shoppers to donate to their charity of choice when they shop with Amazon. You can passively donate to BitGive by signing up on smile.amazon.com and selecting "BitGive" as your charity of choice. Then, you can proceed to shop as you usually would. Amazon will donate 0.5 percent of the total price of your purchases to BitGive at no cost to you."We love the Amazon Smile program! It is an easy way for our supporters to contribute to our mission while also shopping for their holiday gifts and everyday needs," Connie Gallippi, founder and executive director of BitGive, said to Bitcoin Magazine.In October 2018, Amazon announced it had donated $100 million to charities through its AmazonSmile program. “Hundreds of thousands of charities have been able to expand their meaningful work thanks to the donations they’ve received thr...

Bakkt, an upcoming crypto retail payment system and futures platform, is delaying its launch to better ensure the platform’s success at release.On November 20, 2018, the CEO of Bakkt released an update on Medium, outlining the future business plans for the company, describing some of the progress in implementing new features and declaring that the company’s initial launch is being postponed until January 24, 2019. According to CEO Kelly Loeffler, the delay is meant to give the project more time to make sure that the platform is operationally sound at launch.“Given the volume of interest in Bakkt and work required to get all of the pieces in place, we will now be targeting January 24, 2019 for our launch to ensure that our participants are ready to trade on Day 1. As is often true with product launches, there are new processes, risks and mitigants to test and re-test, and in the case of crypto, a new asset class to which these resources are being applied. So it makes sense to adjust our timeline as we work with the industry toward launch,” the post reads.The post also indicates that the team is still working “with customer onboarding and securing regulatory approvals,” as the futures trading platform is still “subject to regulatory approval” by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) before the contracts can launch.First announced at the beginning of August, the Bakkt platform has been await...

When the towers in New York fell, I became obsessed with economics. I wanted to follow the money to understand what happened on that dreadful day. During that time of inquiry, I found myself very interested in Austrian economic theory. Soon enough, I realized that the reserve banking system was systemically corrupt. How can you have money based only on debt? How can central banks print debt out of nowhere and demand interest for that?It was a question that caused me to create the world’s first website where people swapped clothes online, in an attempt to enable people to stop using fiat debt certificates. I soon realized that swapping was a terrible way to trade. For instance, if Alice really likes a dress from Belinda but Belinda doesn't like anything Alice has, then the deal falls through. That's unfortunate. So then, how do I create a digital token that is used in the market so Alice could just pay Belinda a token for the dress that Belinda can trade with anyone else in the marketplace? Hmm, I thought. But if I issue the website’s own internal currency then I'm back to central banking, back to one company deciding what's good for the economy, inflation and everything else would be up to me. We built Swapstyle as an alternative economy based on swapping, as a tool to get around fiat — not become a new fiat. The more I thought about swapping and alternative currencies, the more I realized that money ne...

Neutral Hoskinson: Satoshi Did “An Amazing Thing”...But There Are Lessons to Learn

Charles Hoskinson is best known today as a co-founder of both Ethereum and IOHK, where he leads the research, design and development of Cardano. But before these projects, there was Bitcoin. Back in 2013, he was the founding chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation’s education committee and established the Cryptocurrency Research Group.In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine during the recent StartEngine Summit, Hoskinson began by saying that he views Bitcoin as a series of experiments to try and realize two key concepts:“Can we achieve a decentralized form of value transfer or some sort of proto-money, and, instead of having a central entity issuing a token and securing it, can we release something decentralized with a secure ledger? And, if that happens, will it achieve real value in the marketplace?” In the early days, said Hoskinson, it wasn’t clear if this thing was going to survive or not. “It actually took several years for that to turn into the bitcoin we know and love,” he said. “It had huge volatility in price. The volume would be $1,000 a day, the hashrate would go way up and way down. Some people would say, ‘Eh, I don’t wanna mine anymore.’ They’d turn their computer off, and the network would lose 30 percent of its hashrate.” But the sea of change for Bitcoin took place in 2013. “As the market cap hit one billion, people started taking it really seriously. Many people entered the space, and, at tha...

The Lightning Network continues to post steady growth.According to data from 1ML, the network is now supported by roughly 4,069 nodes, which house just over 12,500 payment channels, an average of 10.91 channels per node (at time of publication). Most of this growth has come in the later half of 2018, as the average age of each node is just 137 days old.With infrastructural growth, the network is also seeing an uptick in liquidity. The network’s collective capacity now stands at 198.32 BTC, which, at bitcoin’s current price, means the Lightning Network holds over $1 million worth of bitcoin for the first time in its less-than-one-year history. The average capacity for each node and payment channel comes in at 0.114 BTC ($633) and 0.019 BTC ($107) respectively, and with transaction fees at 1 sat (roughly $0.000056), the network’s promise to deliver low-cost microtransactions is holding up.A long-awaited development in the cryptocurrency space, the progress of the Lightning Network has been watched with great interest by the community. Heralded as a potential solution to Bitcoin’s the scalability problem, the Lightning Network operates as a secondary layer on top of Bitcoin’s base network. After its launch in early 2018, the Lightning Network saw immediate interest from developers, who began building various Lightning applications on the network. Alongside its use as a secondary layer for micropayments, ma...

South Korea’s leading technology university, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), is working with Theta Labs, the first blockchain-based video delivery system, to introduce students to an entirely new set of coursework regarding the applications of blockchain technology. “We’re kicking things off with a seminar at the electrical engineering school this Friday [the 16th] where we’ll be providing a high-level overview of blockchain technology and current trends in development,” Theta Labs CEO Mitch Liu told Bitcoin Magazine. “We’ll also start a student club focused on the Theta project, where we’ll work with students to start building applications on the open-source Theta blockchain alongside our engineering team. In Q1 2019, our team will be teaching a one-week course at the K-School at KAIST, which is the university’s entrepreneurship-focused program. This will be a wide-ranging course on building a successful startup, from establishing a team and fundraising to go-to-market strategies.”KAIST is just the latest in a growing number of post-secondary institutions, including MIT and the University of Edinburgh, that have added blockchain-related courses to their curricula. Liu claims that South Korea is one of the most important leaders in the blockchain space, and that its biggest contribution is its ongoing investment in blockchain education and development. “The Ministry of S...

Neutral Colorado and California Just Elected Pro-Bitcoin Governors

Jared Polis (D-CO) and Gavin Newsom (D-CA) both won out against their respective Republican contenders last night, November 6, 2018. While their campaign points and platforms were capitalized by a progressive agenda, their favorable attitudes toward cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have caught the crypto community’s attention. Congratulations to early Bitcoin advocate @jaredpolis on being elected Governor of Colorado! "Polis said that he will use his powers in Congress to fight against any attempts by the government to enact policies that restrict the growth of bitcoin" - 2014 pic.twitter.com/LOjTsYwiyK— Francis Pouliot (@francispouliot_) November 7, 2018For Gavin Newsom, this support comes from a simple yet pioneering decision to accept bitcoin as a campaign donation in 2014 when running as an incumbent candidate for California's Lieutenant Governor seat. One of the first politicians to do so at the time, Newsom signaled the donation option as an understated endorsement of the technology.“I should promote the technology ever so subtly by saying I'll accept bitcoin in the campaign. I'm ready for it. But how the hell do I explain it to anybody?” Congratulations to early Bitcoin adopter @GavinNewsom on being elected Governor of California! "I should promote the technology ever so subtly by saying I'll accept bitcoin in the campaign". "I'm ready for it...

Neutral Revolutions and Counter Revolutions: Andreas Antonopoulos Reflects on 10 Years of Bitcoin

As Bitcoin approaches its 10th anniversary, its community, old and new, has begun taking stock of how a decade has come to alter or define the cryptocurrency — and what Bitcoin has done to alter or define the decade.Ten years has invited room for undeniable change. Bitcoin has seen roughly half a dozen market cycles, spawned a secondary market of more than 2,000 altcoins and laid the foundations for a surging blockchain industry. It has evolved from the obscure interest of cypherpunks and crypto anarchists to a viable, private currency that has provided a financial lifeline to underbanked, underprivileged populations in floundering economies. There are few voices so well equipped to reflect on the changes as Andreas Antonopoulos. One of Bitcoin’s chief evangelists and arguably its most vocal educator, Antonopoulos has spent the years following his industry entrance in 2012 traveling around the world to share his knowledge on the subject. His books, which include Mastering Bitcoin, The Internet of Money, Vol. 1 and 2 and the forthcoming Mastering Ethereum, are praised as some of the space’s most thorough and informative reads.His impact on the space is something of a widely-recognized truth, one that has made him one of the industry’s most-respected and definitive thought leaders. While others were getting rich, he was enriching the community, reminding others that bitcoin is about much more than lambos ...

Neutral Global Cryptocurrency Exchanges Cut Ties With Iran After New US Sanctions

A number of cryptocurrency exchanges have reportedly cut ties with Iran after the U.S. imposed tougher economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Sepehr Mohammadi, head of Iran’s Blockchain Community, told local media that Binance and Bittrex are some of the platforms to have unofficially dropped Iran from the list of supported countries to receive services. […]Bitcoin News.

BTC Inc, the parent company of Bitcoin Magazine, is excited to announce the hiring of Andrew Fleming to be the new head of its media division. The addition of Fleming to BTC Inc’s management roster is the latest example of an emerging trend of big-name talent leaving institutions in order to join the crypto and blockchain industry.Before coming to BTC Inc, Fleming was the Head of Content Platforms at Dow Jones, parent company of the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Barron’s and many other leading publications. Prior to Dow Jones, Fleming was the VP of Product at Business Insider, where he was instrumental in building the company from a 13-person startup to a global media powerhouse. This move comes a few months after BTC Inc’s hiring of Jarrod Dicker, former VP of Innovation at the Washington Post, to be CEO of Po.et, a media blockchain initiative seeking to recapture value for content creators.Fleming’s new role will encompass all parts of the BTC Inc media division: Bitcoin Magazine, Distributed.com, Distributed events, The Let’s Talk Bitcoin network of podcasts, and print properties.“There’s lots of excitement in crypto, of course, and it’s something I’m really interested in,” said Fleming. “At Dow Jones we look at what’s happening and report on what we see, but to really understand the space, however, you have to be in it. That’s what landed me in a crypto media company.”He added: “I come from a sc...

Neutral Lawyer Invests $300 Million to Build Crypto City in the Nevada Desert

Consumer protection lawyer Jeffrey Berns is the owner and CEO of Blockchains LLC, a company that bought more than 67,000 acres of land in northern Nevada for $170 million earlier this year. On Thursday, he revealed plans to build a crypto city in the desert, claiming to have invested $300 million to make it a […]The post Lawyer Invests $300 Million to Build Crypto City in the Nevada Desert appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Neutral Blockstream: When Will the Level of Dishonesty and Manipulation End?

The alleged Bitcoin-focused company Blockstream has raised over $100 million publicly, but has yet to be forthright with the Bitcoin community. It’s time for people within the Bitcoin space to start holding them accountable. Blockstream’s dishonesty should have a bright light shined on it so everyone is aware of their manipulation and deceit. Also read: Bitcoin […]The post Blockstream: When Will the Level of Dishonesty and Manipulation End? appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Neutral It’s the 10th Anniversary of the Bitcoin White Paper. Have You Read It Yet?

On October 31, 2018, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin’s white paper, the seminal literature of Satoshi Nakamoto’s creation and the new cryptographic field he introduced with the blockchain.Since its release, the white paper has become a must-read for crypto enthusiasts, be they fledglings or veterans, investors or coders. Part technical primer, economic treatise and constitution, our community has canonized the document as something of a blockchain bible, one that has done its fair share of proselytizing followers over the years. Following the white paper’s release, Bitcoin’s genesis went on to spawn a sprawling ecosystem of altcoins and other related blockchain applications that would continue Nakamoto’s work in numerous iterations.So for the white paper’s 10th anniversary, it’s only fitting that we revisit the promethean spark that allowed us to rediscover how value can be defined and money managed. You can read the document, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” here. If you’ve never read the white paper, there’s no time like the present, especially when the present is 10 years into the future that the document first laid out."Bitcoin: a Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System": Read It Here.There’s also no time like the present for looking back on how far Bitcoin and blockchain technology — and the community that has grown up around them — have come.From October 31, 2018, through...

When the Tezos (XTZ) fundraiser took place in July of 2017, the original plan was for development to be completed in 3 to 4 months before a production network would be released, at which point ICO participants could collect their coins. Following the ICO, which was the largest one-time fundraiser in blockchain history at the […]The post Regulatory environment hinders Tezos (XTZ) with crypto exchanges appeared first on Crypto Insider.

Neutral The ‘Hodlers of Last Resort’ Saviors of Bitcoin

We have all listened to no-coiner acquaintances reasoning that, ''Bitcoin is purely virtual, so the price could crash to nothing”. But why are they wrong? Who are the heroes that stop the drop in a bear market cycle? These, my friend, are Bitcoin’s Buyers of Last Resort. What Goes Up… The rise of bitcoin has depended on increasing adoption, occurring as more people discover, then desire, then buy bitcoin. If only this discovery was purely organic,Read MoreBitcoinist.com.

Glassdoor Economic Research is delivering much needed good news to the crypto community saying that despite extreme price volatility and regulatory uncertainty, the number of crypto jobs in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector has risen by 300 percent since the same time last year.Saying that “the professionalism of the space has accelerated,” the report notes that “continued growth in job openings suggests that blockchain employers remain confident in the market opportunity and continue to make long-term investments in their teams.”Using their substantial job search site to search out blockchain and cryptocurrencies jobs, Glassdoor Research learned that, in August 2018, there were 1,775 unique blockchain-related job openings in the U.S. By comparison, in August last year, there were only 446 similar job listings, representing a 300 percent year-over-year increase.“Hiring and jobs is a much more stable metric to observe when looking at the health of an industry, compared to the stock market or currency values that can, and do, fluctuate daily,” Glassdoor economist Daniel Zhao, who worked on the study, told Bitcoin Magazine:“What the strong surge in job growth that we see on Glassdoor shows is that there is a clear interest in investing in workers with skills related to Bitcoin and other digital currencies.”"Bitcoin-Related" Skills Are in DemandOne of the report’s surprises is that more cryptocurrenc...

Neutral No Connection Required: How One Dev Sent Bitcoin While Off the Grid

Following a partnership between Samourai Wallet and goTenna, which now allows users to send bitcoin transactions offline, one developer in New Zealand is staying ahead of the curve.Detailing the feat in a series of tweets, Rigel Walshe used a $27 entry level, Android smartphone and four goTennas (portable devices used to create off-grid radio signals) to successfully send a bitcoin transaction without access to the internet. Over the weekend I sent a bitcoin transaction to a relay 12.6km away with no cell network or internet connection. Here's a tweetstorm about how I used @gotenna and @SamouraiWallet to do it— Coinsure (@Coinsurenz) October 16, 2018Here’s how he did it.Working in Auckland, New Zealand, Walshe used Google Maps to devise a relay route that would respect goTenna’s stated maximum relay range of 6.4 km (though he notes this region is mountainous, so it was important to find high ground so as to not have any land structures interfere with the signals).As Walshe set up each goTenna, which has a concealed relay station, he sent a transaction to see if it effectively went through. His girlfriend was waiting on the other side of each transaction, with her smartphone connected to the goTenna mesh network Walshe created. (Although an internet connection was not needed in order to receive the transaction, she was only able to confirm that the transaction was successful by checking the ...

Neutral Banano Community is Reminiscent of the Early Days

The explosion of the crypto space over the past couple of years has been massively beneficial for the industry and life changing for many of its legacy members. However, that’s not to say it was unilaterally good: veteran participants will often cite the loss of charm, wholesomeness, and support as the community grew and drifted […]NullTX.

Neutral TRON accused of presenting illusionary partnership.

Published on CoinnounceJustin Yuchen Sun tweeted on 12th October 2018 that TRON; for the first time was partnering with a billion dollar industry giant. Finally, First time to partner with tens of billions USD valuation industry giant. Guess the name 😊#TRON #TRX $TRX — Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) October 12, 2018 The rumor giant later turned out to […]Coinnounce.

Neutral The 7th Anniversary of Litecoin

On October 13th, Litecoin celebrates the 7th anniversary of its launch. Given this major accomplishment, we can safely say that Charlie Lee’s digital silver project is the longest-running and most time-tested altcoin of all time. Unlike Namecoin, Peercoin, Devcoin, Novacoin and Terracoin (all of which are basically abandoned and obscure by now), Litecoin continues to […]Crypto Insider.

Neutral Blockchain Business in Crypto Valley Has Doubled Since Last Year: Report

The number of blockchain-related companies in Switzerland and Liechtenstein has doubled in the last year, according to a new study published by CV VC.The Zug-based firm, in partnership with Strategy& (PwC’s global consulting arm) and inacta, compiled information about the top 50 blockchain and digital asset companies between the two countries. The report also highlights blockchain activity in Zug, Switzerland’s Crypto Valley — a moniker it’s earned for its resemblance to the United States’ own Silicon Valley. While Crypto Valley originated in Zug, it has since expanded to include much of the surrounding territories, including the whole of Switzerland and neighboring Lichtenstein. And that moniker seems more relevant now than ever. The report reveals that there are over 600 blockchain-related companies in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and that over 3,000 individuals are employed by them. The top 50 listed ventures covered by the report sport a combined market cap of roughly $44 billion, and five startups are valued at over $1 billion each. To earn a coveted spot in the report, companies were required to meet specific guidelines, the first being that blockchain technology must be part of their core business. The second was that a venture must employ at least one person either in Switzerland or Liechtenstein, while the third was that it must somehow contribute to the growth and expansion of Crypto Va...